Not sure what you mean by a "frantic over reving quality"? Sounds
like it wasn;t working properly, perhaps a govenor problem.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 10:53:28 -0400, "Doug Dotson"
wrote:
Fron what I understand, the higher frequency noise of the 3600
RPM gensets is easier to dampen than the lower frequency of the
1800 RPM units.

===========================================

That has not been my experience for what its worth. My last boat had
a 3600 RPM gas Kohler with a decent sound shield and water lift
muffler, shock mounted under the rear deck. Inside the cabin with the
A/C on, the noise level was barely noticeable. Outside in the cockpit
however I found it objectionable. Not really ear splitting or
anything, just annoying. It had kind of a frantic over reving quality
to it that I have not noticed in 1800 RPM units.

"Ace-high" wrote in message
...
Suggest you buy a sound level meter from Radio Shack for $39 analog or
$49 digital and track down the hot noise spots and sound leaks - and
plug them. The irritation is either transmitted thru air - sound
waves, or solids - vibration. There's no other way. Use very soft
mounts. Or double mounts.

Good suggestions.

3600 rpm is harder to quiet down than 1800 - but you got what you got.

That's counter to what I have heard from manufactures of both types
of generators, and from my experience with my own 3600 RPM genset
vs a friend's 180 RPM unit.

We cruised for 5 years with a 7.5 KW Onan in our engine room under
center cockpit similar design to yours. It was noisy but worse -
unreliable.

Well, that's consistent with ONAN owners around here.

I've replaced it with a 6 kw Northern Lights 1800 rpm
genset with no sound shield as I like to visually inspect often. Vast
difference in noise created. The Onan had a very noisy air intake -
check this noise source out carefully on yours - and a 2 cyl clattery
engine.

Mine is a 1 cyl, but the air intake is a major source of noise. Mine has
a baffle that softens the noise greatly.

We had and still have 4 big solar panels - it's tough to find a good
spot for these - we moved them 3 times before finding a least
objectionable home.

We are facing the same situation.

We had a wind generator - noisy, vibrating and dangerous and high
maintenance - sold it - would not have one again. No matter who's.

SOunds like you bought an Air Marine. Too bad.

When it's squall time at 3 am and the wind kicks up to 35 kts with
cold driving rain - who wants to go on deck to turn it out of the wind
and secure it. They all sound like a Cessna on the back deck trying to
do a short field takeoff. And they **** off you neighbors.

I just flick a switch from inside the boat to shut the wind generator down.
Better yet, the charge controller senses the high wind situation and shuts
it down automatically until the wind calms down to an acceptable level.
Swinging the mill by hand is both dangerous and archaic.



On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 16:09:40 -0400, "Skip Gundlach"
skipgundlach.sez.remove.this.and.the.dots.to.mail
wrote:

In several of the mailing lists of which I partake, there's been
discussion
of generators of late, originally about using AC, but migrating to
charging,
noise, space and cost considerations and other issues.

As we prepare to cut the cord for the rest of our lives, we're actively
considering an arch to carry solar and wind gear, as we'll be spending
the
rest of our lives in the Caribbean, where there's ample of both.
However,
the boat currently (pardon the expression) has a working generator of
recent

On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 00:52:25 -0400, "Doug Dotson"
wrote:

Not sure what you mean by a "frantic over reving quality"? Sounds
like it wasn;t working properly, perhaps a govenor problem.

=========================================

It was working fine. That's just my attempt to describe what I found
objectionable about the sound quality. 3600 to my ears sounds overly
busy, not yet chainsaw or weed whacker busy, but too busy. It's very
subjective and may not sound the same to everyone but I will probably
not buy another.

What electrical loads qre you planning on carrying? Could you get by without
a generator?

====

Charles T. Low
- remove "UN"
www.boatdocking.com/BDPhoto.html - Photo Contest
www.boatdocking.com
www.ctlow.ca/Trojan26 - my boat

====

"Skip Gundlach"
skipgundlach.sez.remove.this.and.the.dots.to.mail wrote in
message ...
...
As we prepare to cut the cord for the rest of our lives, we're actively
considering an arch to carry solar and wind gear, as we'll be spending the
rest of our lives in the Caribbean, where there's ample of both. However,
the boat currently (pardon the expression) has a working generator of
recent
vintage (under 600 hours). It's got a (Diesel) Kubota engine driving an
Onan 6.5KW 3600 RPM electrical end (along with an alternator on a belt).
...
Skip and Lydia

And then Skip typed:

already installed which, if we don't have someone buy it for some
significant amount of money,

and they all ran for cover......(c;

Larry

Ah, the PLEASURE of owning a Honda INVERTER genset.....

Runs 1200 RPM inside the fiberglass and steel enclosure until the load gets
to around 1800 watts, then GRADUALLY increases to its full-load-speed of
2200 RPM.............all the while feeding high frequency AC to its 3KW,
solid state inverter which puts out a rock-solid 60 Hz synthesized sinewave
to the loads, no matter what the engine is doing.....

Too bad someone doesn't use this technology in a YACHT GENSET of reasonable
price.....instead of the old 60 Hz alternator-on-a-driveshaft.

Larry

58 dB @ rated load
49 dB @ 1/4 load

http://www.hayesequipment.com/eu3000is.htm

It makes no more noise than someone talking at a normal level......

"Doug Dotson" wrote:

"Ace-high" wrote in message
.. .
Suggest you buy a sound level meter from Radio Shack for $39 analog or
$49 digital and track down the hot noise spots and sound leaks - and
plug them. The irritation is either transmitted thru air - sound
waves, or solids - vibration. There's no other way. Use very soft
mounts. Or double mounts.

Good suggestions.

3600 rpm is harder to quiet down than 1800 - but you got what you got.

That's counter to what I have heard from manufactures of both types
of generators, and from my experience with my own 3600 RPM genset
vs a friend's 180 RPM unit.

It is all but impossible to shield a low frequency noise and the
corollary is that it is relatively easy to shield a high frequency
one. Low frequencies goes through solids. Think jackhammer type
noise. [We had a noise course where we had a tape of a jackhammer
which was placed in a trunk. When the tape was played we were
supposed to take sound level readings from in the room, outside the
room etc. We got complaints from people in adjoining BUILDINGS.] A
SLM from Radio Shack will only be an imprecise instrument to measure
noise - you would really need a octave band analyzer, but any kind of
meter is probably overkill. Just use your ears.

In addition to plugging up all the holes, you should make sure that
the surfaces surrounding the noise source are soft (not hard and
reflective) and bumpy. For instance if you have a cement block wall
that is unpainted, it will be better than one that is painted because
the paint fills in all the holes and reflects the noise back into the
room. A large piece of metal that might vibrate can be damped in
several ways, one of which is by piercing it.

We cruised for 5 years with a 7.5 KW Onan in our engine room under
center cockpit similar design to yours. It was noisy but worse -
unreliable.

Well, that's consistent with ONAN owners around here.

I've replaced it with a 6 kw Northern Lights 1800 rpm
genset with no sound shield as I like to visually inspect often. Vast
difference in noise created. The Onan had a very noisy air intake -
check this noise source out carefully on yours - and a 2 cyl clattery
engine.

Mine is a 1 cyl, but the air intake is a major source of noise. Mine has
a baffle that softens the noise greatly.

We had and still have 4 big solar panels - it's tough to find a good
spot for these - we moved them 3 times before finding a least
objectionable home.

We are facing the same situation.

We have 4 also - two on the foredeck under the staysail boom, one on
the dinghy davits and one on the radar arch.

We had a wind generator - noisy, vibrating and dangerous and high
maintenance - sold it - would not have one again. No matter who's.

SOunds like you bought an Air Marine. Too bad.

We have heard the same from folks that cruise in the tropics and near
tropics also. They do not like wind generators and take them off and
go exclusively with solar panels. We however like ours very well. It
works especially well at night when the sun doesn't shine and when it
is cloudy, which it sometimes is up here in the Chesapeake. It is not
dangerous or noisy, but it also does warn us when the wind is cranking
up.

When it's squall time at 3 am and the wind kicks up to 35 kts with
cold driving rain - who wants to go on deck to turn it out of the wind
and secure it. They all sound like a Cessna on the back deck trying to
do a short field takeoff. And they **** off you neighbors.

I just flick a switch from inside the boat to shut the wind generator down.
Better yet, the charge controller senses the high wind situation and shuts
it down automatically until the wind calms down to an acceptable level.
Swinging the mill by hand is both dangerous and archaic.

We don't have to go outside the boat either - the wind gen turns
itself off if the wind gets too high, or we have a switch inside that
we can turn it off when we are in a marina and don't want to disturb
our neighbors. Some neighbors are easier to disturb than others.
Some neighbors I'd like to disturb because they disturb me, but Bob
restrains me.

We'd like to have a genset for among other things to refill the scuba
tanks. What we have now is engine driven refrigeration, which we run
twice a day.


On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 16:09:40 -0400, "Skip Gundlach"
skipgundlach.sez.remove.this.and.the.dots.to.mail
wrote:

In several of the mailing lists of which I partake, there's been
discussion
of generators of late, originally about using AC, but migrating to
charging,
noise, space and cost considerations and other issues.

As we prepare to cut the cord for the rest of our lives, we're actively
considering an arch to carry solar and wind gear, as we'll be spending
the
rest of our lives in the Caribbean, where there's ample of both.
However,
the boat currently (pardon the expression) has a working generator of
recent




grandma Rosalie

S/V RosalieAnn, Leonardtown, MD
CSY 44 WO #156
http://home.mindspring.com/~gmbeasley/id2.html

"Rosalie B." wrote in message

We have heard the same from folks that cruise in the tropics and near
tropics also. They do not like wind generators and take them off and
go exclusively with solar panels. We however like ours very well. It
works especially well at night when the sun doesn't shine and when it
is cloudy, which it sometimes is up here in the Chesapeake. It is not
dangerous or noisy, but it also does warn us when the wind is cranking
up.

Our KISS normally doesn't wake us up as it is very quiet. Plus it is mounted
on the stern and we sleep in the V-Berth.

When it's squall time at 3 am and the wind kicks up to 35 kts with
cold driving rain - who wants to go on deck to turn it out of the wind
and secure it. They all sound like a Cessna on the back deck trying to
do a short field takeoff. And they **** off you neighbors.

I just flick a switch from inside the boat to shut the wind generator
down.
Better yet, the charge controller senses the high wind situation and
shuts
it down automatically until the wind calms down to an acceptable level.
Swinging the mill by hand is both dangerous and archaic.

We don't have to go outside the boat either - the wind gen turns
itself off if the wind gets too high, or we have a switch inside that
we can turn it off when we are in a marina and don't want to disturb
our neighbors. Some neighbors are easier to disturb than others.
Some neighbors I'd like to disturb because they disturb me, but Bob
restrains me.

Running a wind generator in a marina is rude! Never any good reason
to do so.

We'd like to have a genset for among other things to refill the scuba
tanks. What we have now is engine driven refrigeration, which we run
twice a day.

12 volt belt driven holding plate systems work well. The genset is a
nice complement. We run our genset for an hour in the morning to pull
down the cold plates and recharge the batteries and make coffee. Run
it again in the early evening to pull down the plates, recharge the
batteries
and make hot water.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Doug Dotson" wrote:


"Rosalie B." wrote in message

We have heard the same from folks that cruise in the tropics and near
tropics also. They do not like wind generators and take them off and
go exclusively with solar panels. We however like ours very well. It
works especially well at night when the sun doesn't shine and when it
is cloudy, which it sometimes is up here in the Chesapeake. It is not
dangerous or noisy, but it also does warn us when the wind is cranking
up.

Our KISS normally doesn't wake us up as it is very quiet. Plus it is mounted
on the stern and we sleep in the V-Berth.

Well we sleep in the aft cabin (center cockpit boat with the wind gen
on the radar arch right over our head). We wouldn't hear it at all in
the V berth of course.

I've asked other folks what they hear when it is on, and some say that
they can't hear it on their boat (next to us in a marina - turning it
on so that they can listen) and some say they can't hear it at all.

When it's squall time at 3 am and the wind kicks up to 35 kts with
cold driving rain - who wants to go on deck to turn it out of the wind
and secure it. They all sound like a Cessna on the back deck trying to
do a short field takeoff. And they **** off you neighbors.

I just flick a switch from inside the boat to shut the wind generator
down.
Better yet, the charge controller senses the high wind situation and
shuts
it down automatically until the wind calms down to an acceptable level.
Swinging the mill by hand is both dangerous and archaic.

We don't have to go outside the boat either - the wind gen turns
itself off if the wind gets too high, or we have a switch inside that
we can turn it off when we are in a marina and don't want to disturb
our neighbors. Some neighbors are easier to disturb than others.
Some neighbors I'd like to disturb because they disturb me, but Bob
restrains me.

Running a wind generator in a marina is rude! Never any good reason
to do so.

Yes there is. If there is no electrical hookup. And I don't see that
during the day it is rude - after all boat engines make much more
noise and no one says that starting your engine in a marina is rude.

Running a genset in the marina is also rude, and I've been beside
people who do that with their exhaust right by our ports.

There are other things that folks do in marinas that I think are ruder
than running the wind gen which basically doesn't make as much noise
as the wind itself does.

This includes:
Power boats with large spotlights up on the tower who run them all
night, shining them down into other people's cockpits
People with in mast furling. Makes more noise than a windgen


We'd like to have a genset for among other things to refill the scuba
tanks. What we have now is engine driven refrigeration, which we run
twice a day.

12 volt belt driven holding plate systems work well. The genset is a
nice complement. We run our genset for an hour in the morning to pull
down the cold plates and recharge the batteries and make coffee. Run
it again in the early evening to pull down the plates, recharge the
batteries
and make hot water.


Well when we run the engine driven refrigeration (which we run for no
more than 45 minutes morning and evening), the engine makes the hot
water and recharges the batteries if they need it.

grandma Rosalie

In addition to plugging up all the holes, you
should make sure that the surfaces
surrounding the noise source are soft (not
hard and reflective) and bumpy. For
instance if you have a cement block wall
that is unpainted, it will be better than one
that is painted because the paint fills in all
the holes and reflects the noise back into
the room.

I've heard of fero cement hulls,
but concrete block?????

What sort of mortar do you use?
What shape hull can you build?

;-)